#WATWB February – Girl Giving a Heart Away

Welcome to the We Are The World #WATWB Blogfest for February 2018.  Please visit our generous co-hosts.  They are Shilpa Garg, Peter Nena, Eric Lahti, Roshan Radhakrishnan and Inderpreet Kaur Uppal.

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Alisha with her parents. Source: SBS news.

Due to a rare disease, little Alisha Kapoor needs a heart lung transplant. In the process her heart is healthy and she is willing to donate it to save another persons life. As SBS News reports

Alisha Kapoor knows little outside the walls of the Children’s Hospital at Westmead, in Sydney’s west. 

She turns five in a few weeks but has spent the majority of her life living at the hospital, away from her parents and two siblings in Blacktown, 13km away. 

“I think we have two houses, one here, and one there,” her father Raj Kapoor told SBS News. 

“This is my second house. My wife, she stayed almost one and half years, or more, in the hospital, 24/7.”

This is all because

Alisha has an incredibly rare genetic disorder; surfactant protein C deficiency, which affects less than 10 children in Australia. It means she struggles to breathe and is permanently on a ventilator.

But while Alisha needs a lung transplant, Dr Pandit says it is safer to transplant a new heart at the same time. 

“Technically it is very difficult for the cardiothoracic surgeons to separate the lungs from the heart,” Dr Pandit said. “As a result, in her case, it will have to be the heart and lung together. Technically it is much better to do it as a block transplant, rather than separating just the lungs.”

Here is the part that is so, literally, heart-warming

Among this comes a positive. While Alisha will become the youngest heart-lung transplant recipient in Australia, her heart is perfectly healthy. It means she can donate it, and save another young life in the process. 

“We feel very good [about it],” Mr Kapoor said.

“Someone will save my kid, and my kid will save someone else. Everyone should be a donor, it’s a precious gift of life.” 

Mr Kapoor is urging everyone to think about organ donation and the lives that could be saved.

It is touching to read that someone so needy is willing to give, to share, for the sake of another’s life.  It reminds us of the inter-dependence of our lives.

The rest of the article and video can be found here.

Alisha Karpoor and her father, Raj.

Alisha with her father. Source: SBS News.

Here are some verses to close a story on the kindness people show to one another.

     The kindness of others
     is all they ever wanted,
     the laughter of neighbors
     prospering in the blue light of summer.
   
      The generosity of others
     whose spirits, like their long-legged
     children blossoming into a progeny
     of orchards and fields, flourish.
Two stanzas from ‘The Kindness of Others’ by Cathy Song. Source: Poetry Foundation.

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Want to know more about this blogfest?  Read on.

Once again, here are the guidelines for #WATWB:

1. Keep your post to Below 500 words, as much as possible.

2. Link to a human news story on your blogone that shows love, humanity, and brotherhood. Paste in an excerpt and tell us why it touched you. The Link is important, because it actually makes us look through news to find the positive ones to post.

3. No story is too big or small, as long as it Goes Beyond religion and politics, into the core of humanity.

4. Place the WE ARE THE WORLD badge or banner on your Post and your Sidebar. Some of you have already done so, this is just a gentle reminder for the others.

5. Help us spread the word on social media. Feel free to tweet, share using the #WATWB hastag to help us trend! 

Tweets, Facebook shares, Pins, Instagram, G+ shares using the #WATWB hashtag through the month most welcome. We’ll try and follow and share all those who post on the #WATWB hashtag, and we encourage you to do the same.Just click Here to enter their link and join us! Bigger the #WATWB group each month, more the joy!

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#WATWB March 2018 First Anniversary Post – #KevinHines #BlackDog and More

Welcome to our First Anniversary #WATWB post. Please visit and show your appreciation to our dedicated co-hosts for this month

Sylvia McGrath,

Sylvia Stein,

Shilpa Garg,

Eric Lahti and

Belinda Witzenhausen.

Kevin Hines

On this World Bipolar Day, the story of Kevin Hines, Cracked Not Broken (pictured) is one of surviving with a challenging condition of life. Kevin navigates the course through bipolar disorder. He does not navigate alone.

There have been times he has felt in the depths of desperation. He threw himself off San Francisco’s Golden Gate Bridge. But, he did not die. His story now inspires others.

He takes his story to others as this Huff Post article states

Kevin also sits on the boards of The International Bipolar Foundation, The Bridge Rail Foundation (BRF) and The Mental Health Association of San Francisco (MHASF). Kevin has spoken and testified in congressional hearings alongside Patrick Kennedy in support of the Mental Health Parity Bill. He has been a powerful voice for the lived experience movement for over 15 years. 

His will to live and stay mentally well has inspired people worldwide. His compelling story has touched diverse, global audiences within colleges and universities, high schools, corporations, clergy, military, clinicians, health and medical communities, law enforcement organizations, and various conferences. Thousands have communicated to Hines that his story helped save their lives.

His story was featured in the 2006 critically-acclaimed film “The Bridge” by the film director and producer Eric Steel.

Kevin is one person who helps not only himself, but others too, find the will to live amidst the vicissitudes of life and health.  Check him out on youtube.

Black Dog Institute and Beyond Blue

In my country of Australia we have other agencies such as the Black Dog Institute and Beyond Blue.

The Black Institute describes itself as

 dedicated to understanding, preventing and treating mental illness. We are about creating a world where mental illness is treated with the same level of concern, immediacy and seriousness as physical illness; where scientists work to discover the causes of illness and new treatments, and where discoveries are immediately put into practice through health services, technology and community education.

Beyond Blue Foundation

Among their initiatives, Beyond Blue has some ambassadors from all walks of life: sports, media, law, the arts who support the work and who have a story linked to either them or loved ones of theirs, who have lived with the challenges of depression, anxiety and other demands on emotional-mental wellbeing.

We Are The World Blogfest #WATWB Itself

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#WATWB is also an example of giving people a reason to get out of bed, to believe in yourself, or to find another person or cause to believe in.  The #WATWB interaction builds commmunity. It fosters a compassionate and hopeful way of life.

In lieu of a poem,

           I’ve chosen a magnificent sung poem

by the great

Don McClean – ‘Vincent’, on youtube.

                                   Please enjoy.

And #WATWB is ONE YEAR OLD!  HappBirthday #WATWB!

Want to know more about this blogfest?  Read on.

Once again, here are the guidelines for #WATWB:

1. Keep your post to Below 500 words, as much as possible.

2. Link to a human news story on your blogone that shows love, humanity, and brotherhood. Paste in an excerpt and tell us why it touched you. The Link is important, because it actually makes us look through news to find the positive ones to post.

3. No story is too big or small, as long as it Goes Beyond religion and politics, into the core of humanity.

4. Place the WE ARE THE WORLD badge or banner on your Post and your Sidebar. Some of you have already done so, this is just a gentle reminder for the others.

5. Help us spread the word on social media. Feel free to tweet, share using the #WATWB hastag to help us trend! 

Tweets, Facebook shares, Pins, Instagram, G+ shares using the #WATWB hashtag through the month most welcome. We’ll try and follow and share all those who post on the #WATWB hashtag, and we encourage you to do the same.Just click Here to enter their link and join us! Bigger the #WATWB group each month, more the joy!

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An Unmistakable Sound

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Image: Google.

An Unmistakable Sound

Ahh

That unmistakable sound

Rasping, rapid rumble

Coarse and grainy.

Oh, I know

It is a sound of

A possum below

Under my window.

Gone to ground

What had brought it round

To visit me?

The ruckus seemed to be

A challenge coming forth

A battle to be fought

For territory

Since we arrived.

Occupation was dominant

Yet, nature will out

Old natural territories stand

Across generations of critters

Home to this land

Down to today.

 

Simon C.J. Falk 14 February 2018

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Check out good news at #WATWB

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A Romance of Sorts

A Romance of Sorts

Smooth, shiny and sliding

Under hands

Nestled between covers

Awaiting the night

Where

In subdued light

Is the longed for

Book!

Simon C.J. Falk 14 February 2018

Wait For Me – A Romance Challenge

The Pradita Chronicles is hosting a Romance fortnight and issued a challenge to writers to contribute.  Hence the following.  Don’t forget to hop over to Pradita’s page.

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Wait For Me – A Response to a Romance Challenge

Wait for me

Said the smiling be-freckled face.

Wait for me after

They were handed testamurs

Smiling for the photographer and

For the sheer delight

A degree of success

From the lectures and tuts and

Now

Bachelors all!

Wait for me after

Crowds came

Faces, hands, and places on the lawn

But he and

Her

Were

gone.

Wait for me after

He didn’t.

Not then.

But after, yes!

Many times

After

And after that.

After

She was gone.

 

Simon C.J. Falk 12 February 2018

 

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And for some good news follow #WATWB

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Being In a Body Is…

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Being In a Body Is…

Being in a body is

Sometimes like being at home

At others

It bewilders and perplexes

With things that feel more

More like foreign.

Yes, foreign territory

Or new lands, caverns and wells

That well,

Take some exploring

And groping around

To hear the sound

To feel the sensation.

It can induce consternation

To not recognise

Such feelings inside

Our eyes open wide

In wonder.

Our minds they can race

At a break-neck pace

Yet the body feel limp, heavy and

Just wants to sink

Into peaceful slumber.

Being in a body is

A still revealing land

That I’m yet to understand

The language of limbs

Of pressure and pains

And weariness remains.

Now

For some peace.

Be still and

Release.

Be still

Be.

 

Simon C.J. Falk  10 February 2018

 

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Want some good news.  Follow #WATWB

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Walking On Walking Through

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Walking On, Walking Through

 

Walking, walking, walking

Walking

On the go

Up and down and round and round

Getting on with the show.

Walking on, walking through

Keeping up with all to do.

And walking

Frees us too

Loosens up the muscles through

The rhythm of the stride

As we pass and feel beside

Us

The air moving by.

Walking

On the street

Free up the mind by freeing up the feet

To settle down the heart

Feeling better when you start

To walk

Along the beach

Striding out as tidal reach

Foams about your toes

And sea spray fills your nose.

Walking

Along an alpine way

Among the peak and chalets

Where soaring eagles sway

And drift on draughts of air

Carrying every care

Of yours to another place

Allowing you the space

For a bit of a respite

As you feel the delight

Of walking

Walking it away

The motion stills our day

Where calm

Can help us be

From our angst then

We are free.

 

Simon C.J. Falk      5 February 2018

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For some good news follow the #WATWB 

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#SunsetsForKate Forming

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#SunsetsForKate Forming

 

Sunsets for Kate

Forming

By the way

As we peer over the clothes-line

At the end of the day.

Soft sheets

And towels heavy

What sublime scene greets?

Us in a bevy

Of cloud-textured skies

After a day of tries

And mundane chores

This vista becomes yours

And my splendid scene.

The promising light

Frames silhouetted day

Warming our dreams

Among the fray.

Sunsets for Kate

Stay with us yet

Until time itself

Is ready to set.

 

Simon C.J. Falk 5 February 2018

 

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Follow the #WATWB for good news story

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Breathing the Breath of God Now

Breathing the Breath of God Now

From time to time we encounter people, even among our own family and friends, who suffer long bouts of physical decline. In recent days, some, known to me, have come to eternal rest after a time of lung diseases.  This poem grapples with some of the hope.

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Scene: Near Sebastopol NSW during ‘burning-off’.

Breathing the Breath of God Now

In memoriam

He’s breathing the breath of God,

Like a soft summer breeze,

Walking where angels trod,

His lungs all clear of wheeze.

He’s resting the repose of peace,

No flail and no more toil,

From the pain he has release,

In God’s harvest from the soil.

From soil of a life spent,

Within family and the farm,

Now to be sent,

To a land where there’s no harm.

Somehow the memory lingers,

Among others of slim and slender frame,

He’d passed on his lengthy fingers,

To children who bore his name.

He’s seeing not as we see now,

As he sees face to face,

There’s no furrow in his brow,

Before the fullness of grace.

Simon C.J. Falk  3 February 2018


Follow the #WATWB for good news stories

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